[Advaita-l] vishayananda & brahmananda

[V Subrahmanian]

On Sat, Apr 2, 2011 at 11:36 AM, Venkata sriram P
<venkatasriramp at yahoo.in>wrote:

> Namaste Dear Murty,
>
> We have to look "beyond" these seemingly material prosperity and should
> strive for mOkSha sAmrAjya lakShmi.  This is the purport.
>
> This is the sAstra rahasya.
>
> If we have to get beautiful damsels, food, embrace of apsarasAs in
> vaikunta, why the hell should be starve & fast on ekAdasi, should perform
> sandhya vandana, should observe shaucha niyamAs, should observe sadAchAra &
> brahmacharya on this earth.
>
> Is our ekadasi fasts, brahmacharya, sadachara, devatarchana etc. only to
> get embraces of damsels, good food in Vaikunta?
>
> Just think over it.  Food for thought....
>
> regs,
> sriram
>

Namaste Sriram,

For the BhagavadgItA verse:

प्राप्य पुण्यकृतां लोकानुषित्वा शाश्वतीः समाः।
शुचीनां श्रीमतां गेहे योगभ्रष्टोऽभिजायते।।6.41।।

//6.41 Attaining the worlds of the righteous, and residing there for eternal
years, the man fallen from Yoga is born in the house of the pious and the
prosperous. //

the BhAShyam of the Acharya is:

//योगमार्गे प्रवृत्तः *संन्यासी* सामर्थ्यात् प्राप्य गत्वा पुण्यकृताम्
*अश्वमेधादियाजिनां
लोकान्*, तत्र च उषित्वा वासमनुभूय शाश्वतीः नित्याः समाः संवत्सरान्, *
तद्भोगक्षये* शुचीनां यथोक्तकारिणां श्रीमतां विभूतिमतां गेहे गृहे योगभ्रष्टः
अभिजायते। ।।6.41।।//

//6.41 Praapya, attaining, reaching, lokaan, the worlds; punya-krtaam, of
the righteous, of the performers of the Horse-sacrifice, etc.; and usitva,
residing there, *enjoying the stay;* for sasvatih, eternal; samah, years;
(then,) when *the period of enjoyment is over*, the yoga-bhrastah, man
fallen from Yoga, the one who had set out on the path Yoga, i.e. a* monk*-as
understood from the force of the context .//

It is clear that the puNya of the yogabhraShTa is such that it takes him, by
default, to the worlds that are attained by those who have done the
'ashvamedha yAga'.  Surely such a loka is not devoid of material pleasures.
We have a graphic description of such pleasures in the Kathopanishat.  Yama
offers all kinds of pleasures, both of this world and the other world that
include beautiful apsarastree-s with chariots and musical instruments who
can sing and dance.  Yama asks Nachiketa to get served by these women as he
pleases.

In the 6th chapter of the Gita, the Yogi's discipline is mentioned in
detail.  This includes aahAra niyama, brahmacharya and what not. The above
bhashya says that he is a sannyAsi. Yet, such a one, if he fails to attain
the goal of realization before death, goes to those worlds as described
above.  And the bhoga there is also inevitable.  It is said that Indra is
jealous of anyone performing a number of ashvamedha yaga-s.  This is because
if a person completes 100 such yagas, he will become Indra and the present
Indra will lose his post.

There is a story of how Shantanu was born again.  He had done very great
punya and gone to Swarga.  One day, while seated in the devarAja's assembly,
GangA came there to offer her namaskara.  While doing so, her upper garment
slid away from its place.  While BrahmA and others turned their faces away,
Shantanu watched her intently.  He was cursed to be born in the world and
later he became GangA's husband and gave birth to BhIShma.  Maybe some
details of this story are not accurately reported by me.  However, the
message that such descriptions as beautiful women, etc. is not totally
esoteric is important to note.

In the case of the Soundarya Lahari, too, by extending the logic of the Gita
6th chapter verse, it is not Atma jnAnam that the particular upAsana of Devi
that is taught there. It could be some preparatory steps to it.  Even those
who perform saguNa dhyAnam and go to Brahmaloka will have these bhogas
there.  The Chandogya mantra and the bhashya and the vyAkhyAna-s hint at
this. They separate nirguNa jnAnam and saguNa jnAnam.

Regards,
subrahmanian.v